Office-indicator



(No Model.) I I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

" G. H. IRELAND.

OFFICE INDICATOR.

No. 532,463. Patented Jan. 15, 1895.

1 I J.TH0MAS l I Q io 1 @Z ,2?

(NOMOdGL) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. H. IRELAND.

OFFIGE INDICATOR.

No. 532,463. Patented Jan. 15, 1895.

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- UNITED STATES PATENT O FI E.

GEORGE H. IRELAND, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

'OFFICE-INDICATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 532,463, dated January15, 1895.

Application filed September 18, 1894. Serial N 0. 523,370 (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. IRELAND, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements inAlarm-Indicators for Offices and Similar Localities, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to indicators for offices and similar localities,the object being to provide improved means whereby the exit or entranceof an occupant or employee is announced by an audible alarm, and wherebythe hour when the individual left the office, or other place, and atwhat hour he will return, and where he may be found, may be indicated'for any one having occasion to know the same; and the invention consistsin the novel construction and arrangement of the various parts of thedevice, all as hereinafter fully described and more particularly pointedout in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specification,Figure 1 is aperspective view of the rear end of a case or group of individualdrawers having alarm and indicating devices ap-.

plied thereto embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a front perspective viewof said group bf drawers. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of saiddrawers showing the indicator devices therein, this figure illustratingan alarm device of modified construction actuated by the change ofposition of said drawer.

In the drawings each of said drawers is indicated by B. A is the case inwhich said drawers are held and adapted to slide inthe usual manner foropening and shutting, or for moving them out and in. Each drawer isprovided with dials and pointers (preferably three) as shown. One dial,D, contains on its face the names of certain localities, as Bank, Postoffice, Club, or other places, arranged substantially as shown, and

a pointer, e, is pivoted on said dial, which may be turned by theperson'to whom the drawer may be assigned, to indicate where he may befound. I Said dials may be stamped, or 0th erwise formed, on the innerside of the drawerbottom, and the pointers be pivoted directly to thelatter. Two other dials, F, F, bear the hours of the day on their faces,and on each thereofis pivoted an hour hand, f, and a minute hand, fThese hour and minute hands may be set when a person leaves an office,or other place, to indicate the hour of departure and return.

The name of the person to whom each drawer is assigned is placed on oneend of the drawer.

It is obvious that any other desired announcements than the abovementioned ones may be made by the addition of other dials, or suitableindicating means.

Said drawers are each provided with knobs G and h, on each endconveniently located for engagement with any one of the levers, q, andare constructed to be reversible so that either end may be outward. Tothis end, the name of the person to whom a drawer is appropriated isaffixed to both ends, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, by the names D.Allen and J. Thomas.

In order to provide a visible outward indication that any one of thepersons whose names are on the drawers is out, a distinctive color, asfor instance, red, is applied to one end of the drawers, and when aperson goes out he-pulls out his own drawer, turns it end for end andreplaces it, and does the same when he re-enters.

The drawer in Fig. 2 bearing the name A. Davis, illustrates by theshade-lines thereon, the distinctive appearance which is imparted to adrawer-end by the application of a red or other bright color thereto, asaforesaid.

As shown in Fig. 1, a bell, J, is attached to the rear of thedrawer-case, A, and a bellhammer, is, is suspended in proximity to saidbell, on a spring-stem, 'n. Means are provided, as below described, forcausing said bell to be rung, and an alarm to be thereby given. when anyone of said group of drawers is either drawn out or pushed in, wherebyan attendant in an office, or other place, where the within describeddevice is placed, is notitied that some person has passed in or out, andsaid attendant may, upon being so notified, ascertain by examination ofthe said dials in the drawers,what person has left and at what hour, andwhere he has gone, and at what hour he will return. The knobs on thedrawers, as aforesaid, are indicated by O and h, the latter being on thefront end. Said bell-ringing means consist of a rock-shaft, m, supportedin the lower part of the rear end of the case, A; an arm, 0, secured byone end to said shaft extending upward near said bell-hammer, andhaving'a slipping-01f engagement with the latter, which is permitted bysaid spring-stem, 'n, on which the hammer hangs. Apost, w, is fixedopposite the rear end of a drawer or a group thereof on which is pivotedsaid lever, g, or several thereof having opposite said drawerend, acurved end under which one of the knobs of a drawer may slide and becomeengaged therewith, as shown in Fig. 1. The

said lever, or levers, q, are held normally in the positions shown inFig. 1, by a spring, 8, acting against an arm, '1", fixed on saidrockshat't, m. Said arm, 0', has its extremity engaging with the upperend of a slot, d, in the lower end of a slide-bar, t, whose upper andlower ends enter, and have a sliding engagement with, two groovedstands, m, 00. The result of the lifting action of said spring, orsprings, 8, (there beingtwo of them) under the arms, 1', on saidrock-shaft, m, is to hold the two slide bars, t, upward, as shown inFig. l. The rear extremities of said levers, q, thus engage with thelower ends of slots in said slide bars, and thereby the curved forwardends of the levers, q, are held engaged with the upper sides of thedrawer-knobs, C or h, and thus retain the drawers, B, while they arepushed in, by spring action.

\Vhen a drawer is pulled out, the movement of the knob, O or h,thereon,under the curved end of the lever, q, raises said curved end andcauses the rear end thereof to be thrown downward and to move theslide-bar, t, in the same direction, and as said slide-bar carries saidarm, o downward with it, said shaft, m, is thereby rocked, and arm, 0,thereon throws the bell-hammer, k, outwardly, and said hammer thenslipping off from said arm, is thrown by its spring-arm against thebell, thereby ringing an alarm. Since the lower arm, (1, of

the group rests directly upon the extremity of arm, 4, the slide-bar, t,is not necessarily moved downward as aforesaid, when the lower drawer ismoved, but said slide acts as stated when any drawer above the bottomone is moved out, or in.

Fig. 3 illustrates electrical means for ringing an alarm hell by themovements of said drawers, which may be employed if preferred, and saidelectrical means, or devices, are constructed and arranged as follows: Ametallic circuit-connecting plate, 3, is fixed on a side of the drawer,13. Two circuit-wire contactplates, 4, 4, are fixed in a convenientposition on the adjoining inner side of the drawercase, A, from whichtwo conducting wires, 5, run, one to a battery, 6, and one through anordinary electric bell, 7, and thence to said battery. WVhen the draweris moved outwardly, the plate, 3, in passing by the plates, 1, 4,completes a circuit therebetween causing the boil, 7, to ring, and whenthe drawer is pushed in the same alarm is rung.

WVhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An alarm-indicator for oiiices and an alogous localities, consistingof one or more individual drawers, each containing dials and pointers toindicate the movements and location of a person, combined with analarm-bell, a rock-shaft having an arm thereon for en gagement with thehammer of said bell, a sec ond arm on said rock-shaft, a slide-bar, t,ongaged by said second arm, a pivoted lever for each of said drawersnormally engaging by one end therewith and engaged by the opposite endthereof by said slide-bar, and a spring in engagement with said secondarm whereby said shaft is rocked and said slide -bar is moved upwardly,substantially as set forth.

2. In an alarm'indicat-ing device for ofiiccs and analogous localities,a drawer-case, one or more reversible drawers in said case, each drawerbearing on one end thereof a colorindication and the name of a person,combined with an alarm-bell, and mechanism in termediate of said drawerand bell, actuated by the movement of said drawer in opening andshutting the same, whereby said bell is caused to be rung, substantiallyas set forth.

GEORGE II. IRELAND.

\Vitnesses:

H. A. CHAPIN, K. I. CLEMONS.

